Estonian Ott Tänak (Hyundai) won the Central European Rally, the penultimate round of the WRC world championship, and remains in contention for the world title against his Belgian teammate Thierry Neuville, 3rd on Sunday.
Thierry Neuville (Huyndai) is not yet world rally champion. At the end of the Central European Rally contested in the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany, the 36-year-old from Saint-Vith saw his lead in the championship over his teammate Ott Tänak reduced from 29 to 25 points. Tänak won 7 seconds ahead of Briton Elfyn Evans (Toyota) and 39.8 ahead of Neuville. Grégoire Munster (Ford) took 5th place at 3:41.9.
Thierry Neuville has 225 points against 200 for Tänak. Evans is 3rd (185) and Ogier 4th (166). There will remain a maximum of 30 points to conquer in Japan during the last round from November 21 to 24.
The Estonian is the last driver who can deprive the Belgian of the title. The retirement of Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) on Sunday put an end to the Frenchman’s hopes of winning a 9th WRC world title.
Neuville entered the race with a 29-point lead over the 2019 world champion. His 4th place on Saturday, following two mistakes in the 11th special while he dominated the race, caused him to lose 5 points.
On Sunday, the Belgian was cautious, ranking 4th, 6th and 4th in the three stages before the Power Stage. He finished in 4th place. These 2 points were added to the 3 for his 5th place in Sunday’s ranking.
Sébastien Ogier (Toyota), after a failed braking, had ceded the lead to Tänak when he went off the road in the penultimate special. He slipped on a corner and went off violently. It was impossible for him to leave. This abandonment was also synonymous with the loss of his 18 points from Saturday which went to Tänak, 2nd on Saturday evening. Neuville collected 13, 3 more than the day before.
wrc Central European Rally
Belgium
